Register Your Marusho/Lilac: If you are an owner I'd like to add your bike(s) to the Register. If it is currently in the Register I'd like to bring the information up-to-date. Information on your bike is required if you wish to receive information about other bikes and owners.Send the following information about your bike and any parts bikes and spare engines: The frame number (F9-_ _ _ _ in the case of a Marusho), the engine number (2-_ _ _ _ in the case of a Marusho), color (original and present), mileage, condition (in as much detail as you care to relate), parts you need, parts substitutions you have made, and history of ownership. Give me any previous ownership information, even if it's "some guy in Ohio", because I have hundreds of names of reported previous owners and I can use your information to piece together better histories. Since the Register contains ads, this is the time to list parts you wish to find or sell, and whether you wish to buy or sell a Marusho/Lilac. E-mail is OK but many owners also send in photos and even copies of their registration and titles.
(Also known as the Japanese Motorcycle Historical
Society.) To my knowledge we have no club in the U.S.
comparable to this fine
organization. They acculumate sales literature, manuals, magazines
and photos and reproduce them for sale. Ads and articles for the
bigger marques, such as Lilac, are collected into 100-page bound
publications which sell for ¥1500 (about US$26). For Lilac there
are even two volumes. Because of the
limited appeal of much of this material, the printing method seems
to be much like our Itek process, meaning that reproduction is a
bit crude, but the sheer volume of information is well worth it.
The latest catalog I have is labelled '1995/6', measures 4.5" x 7" and is 1.5 ounces in weight. It is 68 pages in length, written entirely in Japanese. Cost for reproductions averages ¥30 per page (US35¢). Twenty-six different Lilac manuals are offered. I have not made a recent order so I won't pretend to know about shipping charges and I can't even guarantee that your correspondence can be answered unless you send it in Japanese. My recommendation is that, if you have a serious interest in the obscure Japanese brands, or are unable to find what you need for the major brands, you should request their catalog and get someone who can translate Japanese to help you place an order. Here's the latest address, supplied by Hirose Shinya in March 1999:
Japan Nirinsi Club
10-1 Kokonoe-cho
Nakagawa-ku
Nagoya-shi
Aichi-ken 454-0808
JAPAN
I have been corresponding with members of this club for twenty-five
years. If you are in Japan and have a Lilac, you already know
about them. The club has one or two meets a year and I estimate
that an average of 20 Lilacs are in attendance. Until his death in 2005 Lilac President
Masashi Ito seldom missed the events and rode on the back of
the members' Lilacs.
Photos of the meetings are posted on the
Marusho/Lilac Gallery 'Other Photos' page.
For more information contact Katsuyuki Inoue, 1-31-20 Hakuchodai, Himeji-shi, Hyogo JAPAN. Katsuyuki's e-mail address is
k-inoue@sb3.so-net.ne.jp.
The US Post Office has discontinued the cheap overseas book rate, so postage to any foreign country will be $5 or more. Within the US you may request what used to be called 'book rate' but is now called 'media mail'. If you wish to place an order send me an e-mail message and I will tell you the weight and your postage options. All manuals are xerographic, laser-printed or inkjet-printed reproductions. What we call 'shop manuals' were generally not produced by Marusho, most of the necessary information for these straightforward machines being found in the owners manuals and parts lists. What is available in this vein is in Japanese and can be found in the Japan Nirinsi Club's catalog.
The Marusho / Lilac Register:
(Updated irregularly, last updated 11/98) Until October, 2006, I sold this in printed form. Now it is only available in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, and it is free. Note that the Register is only released to people who already own a Marusho or Lilac and who have submitted their own information for inclusion in the Register. E-mail me with your request and I will e-mail you a copy of the pdf file, if you qualify (as above).
Part 1 includes a listing of, at present, 498 M/L bikes, by frame number. The engine number, owner's name, color, condition, mileage, etc. are given when known. Part 2 includes a listing of, at present, 247 owners in 11 countries, with mailing address, phone, fax and e-mail when available.
The BIG Marusho Motorcycle Manual: This volume is the one and only manual covering the 500cc flat-twin models which you can get from me. It is 196 pages, with full-color laminated covers and a spiral (not comb) lay-flat binding. Reproduced within are 500cc parts lists, owners manuals, service literature and advertising. To learn more about it, to examine a preview of sample pages, or to purchase it, visit LULU.COM, the publisher, and type 'MARUSHO' into their search box. As I write this in October, 2006, the price is $21 plus US shipping of $3.06 or overseas shipping of $11.72.
Just as I have consolidated all the 500cc manuals into one publication, I hope to do the same with the V-twin manuals below, sometime in 2007. Therefore, expect the manuals below to no longer be offered as individual booklets sometime soon.
LS-18/1 Parts List:
GBC binding, black printing, goldenrod card stock covers, 22 pps.
Price $5.
LS-18/2 Parts List:
GBC binding, black printing, goldenrod card stock covers, 25 pps.
Price $5.
CF-40 Parts List:
GBC binding, black printing, goldenrod card stock covers, 22 pps.
Price $5.
Guide Book of Lilac and
Instruction Manual:
The Instruction Manual (6"x8.5", 28 pps plus 2 fold-out wiring diagrams) is a pretty decent owners manual covering
the CF-40, LS-18/2 and MF-39. The Guide Book (7"x5", 22 pps) is an odd thing covering the CS-28, LS-18/1 and MF-39, with
some useful information, like tool kit contents and exploded views.
Between the two booklets you have what you'd expect to find in an
owners manual. These are bound with a thin full-color cover
Price $5 each.
